Playing, arranging and composing
AGMs Articles Booklist Dance and movement Early Years Games, body percussion and other fun stuff Orff Times Playing, arranging and composing Songs Speech and Language
Imagery and Sound
Musical ideas as a starting point for improvising with instruments.
It’s Oh So Quiet and Composing Ideas
A waltz, directing exercise, music listening and composition. From Rainer Kotzian.
John Cage 5 x 5 for tuned percussion
Each player plays a trill on 1 note given on the below grid. The group are conducted by a stopwatch, they watch for each time it is their turn to play. This can be played in 5 groups rather than 5 players. See the notation below.
John Cage Inspired Composition
Including a listening comprehension exercise for prepared xylophone by Rainer Kotzian inspired by John Cage. Listen and try to identify the materials he used, e.g. wood, plastic.
Samba Lelê (Barbatuques)
Song by Brazilian body music group ‘Barbatuques.’ In this version adapted by Rainer Kotzian, we created body percussion to accompany the song, composed our own patterns and followed rhythmic notation using cups. For notation and further information on adapting this piece for teaching, see: Composing Music with Children Course Materials
